Touching Video Asks Boy Scouts to Be Sensible About Gay Rights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJpWbN2hanw
Touching Stuff (capitalized because I mean stuff that is touching, not the act of touching stuff) is usually really dumb. Todd Bieber, Director of Content for UCB Comedy and proud Eagle Scout, made some touching stuff that’s not dumb, and it’s important, too.
“I’m a filmmaker and an Eagle Scout. This is my message to the Boy Scouts in regards the ban on homosexual members,” captions Todd on his hugely popular video, “Gay Filmmakers and Boy Scouts.” Bieber shares with the internet how important Scouting was to his development as a young man, and how the organization’s accepting nature saved him as a youth.
He also shares his disappointment with the organization’s general mistreatment of the homosexual community, which is the impetus of this video’s creation. I’m not gonna describe it anymore, the thing’s only like five minutes – just watch it. It’s funny too.
The relationship between gays and the Boy Scouts has been a news item for years, but has recently cropped up again due to an inkling (just an inkling) of sense being knocked into the dudes: they will vote on allowing gay Scouts (but NOT gay Scout leaders) later this year. Again, it’s just an inkling: a vote? Can’t something this common sense just be a mandate? And continuing to ban gay leaders is still backwards.
Obviously, disincluding the homosexual community from things – Scouting, marriage, collecting Pokémon cards, whatever – is wrong. Duh. But, again, just because you understand the obvious acceptability of homosexuality doesn’t mean everyone you deal with does. The ‘battle’ shouldn’t be about forcing the Boy Scouts to allow gay Scouts, but rather to encourage the gestation of understanding and intelligence among those that don’t want to allow gay Scouts, carefully cultivating an accepting atmosphere. The main enemy of gay rights is ignorance, and Bieber’s video will hopefully replace ignorance with understanding. Knowledge should trump ignorance, but ignorance is often louder.
My original opinion on the issue was: just take away the Scouts’ federal funding and let them do whatever they want. Call it a day. Who cares? But Bieber’s video, by showing how important Scouting was to him, changed my mind on that. Why should generations of young men (gay and straight) be denied the Scout experience because of the hateful, bigoted nature of a few misguided people? The Boy Scouts is something that should be closed off to no one, because acceptance is important. It’s not the actual act of Boy Scouting that is an important right – anyone could start a similar, all-inclusive club – it’s the right itself that is important, and Bieber’s video helped me realize that. So thank you, Todd, for knocking some sense into me.
Check out some of Bieber’s additional footage below, where he has Scouts interview gay filmic creatives Chris Kelly, Saturday Night Live writer, and Denis O’Hare, True Blood and American Horror Story actor.
